building insurance or landlord insurance?

meg0210

I wonder what the difference is between the building insurance and landlord insurance.
I am buying a property to let, and the solicitor reminded me to have a building insurance in place when I exchange contracts. If I buy the building insurance now (for a year), do I need to buy the landlord insurance later on when the property is let? If so, can I buy the landlord insurance now even though I do not know when the property is going to be occupied by a tenant?
Besides, I have visited some websites to get quotes. Most of them asked whether the property has suffered natural ground subsidence or whether it is close to a flooding area. How do I know? Do I need to engage in searches in order to get an answer? Can't the insurance companies find this out themselves?
Your advice will be appreciated.

jamie11

meg0210 wrote: »

I wonder what the difference is between the building insurance and landlord insurance.
I am buying a property to let, and the solicitor reminded me to have a building insurance in place when I exchange contracts. If I buy the building insurance now (for a year), do I need to buy the landlord insurance later on when the property is let? If so, can I buy the landlord insurance now even though I do not know when the property is going to be occupied by a tenant?
Besides, I have visited some websites to get quotes. Most of them asked whether the property has suffered natural ground subsidence or whether it is close to a flooding area. How do I know? Do I need to engage in searches in order to get an answer? Can't the insurance companies find this out themselves?
Your advice will be appreciated.

If you are buying a flat then the freeholder should have building insurance in place, you would then need just a small landlord insurance for you own fixtures and fittings. If you are the freeholder then arrange your own buildings insurance which will probably include about £5000 worth of landlords property insured. Tenants should get their own contents insurance.

It's normally a simple matter to arrange.

meg0210

thanks for the reply. No. I am buying a freehold house.

meg0210

Thanks, theartfullodger. Please bear with me - I am a FTB and FT landlord. I have done the homebuyer survey and am waiting for the report (hopefully it will tell me?). So, the conclusion is that I should take a Landlord insurance ? Btw, I am not an LL association Member (yet). How can I join?

pcrosland

You should really consider using a broker to help you, they understand the in & outs & may even get you a better deal.

http://www.northernalliance.co.uk/residential-property-insurance/

Lovelyjoolz

Landlord's insurance will give you about 6 months with the property empty, which should be plenty of time for you to find a tenant.

No offence intended, but you do sound clueless here, which concerns me. You need to start learning and learn FAST the ins and outs of becoming a landlord.

You are starting up a business and yet same to know absolutely nothing about what you should and should be doing. Being a landlord is not something to be taking lightly.

Please, do yourself and your future tenants a favour and start reading and researching as soon as possible.

Find out how to protect yourself AND your tenants.

Join a LL association. There are several. I'm a member of the NLA and find them very helpful, but there are others. There are plenty of resources on their website to help you figure out the laws you need to abide by.

G_M has several useful posts to help you. Definitely read this:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=41160642&postcount=12

And have a look at these:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3258860=


And don't forget to register as self employed with HMRC!

whalster

Yes is good advice to join association I joined the RLA years ago but am sure the NLA is great although their website is not so slick
As said above you need to get your insurance right you can try direct line if you want to listen to 83 seconds of rubish and then a list of questions before you even get to speak to someone of you could ring an independant broker , I had the same fella untill he retired the big boys could not touch him and the service was brilliant , he sold out to Swinton , oh dear ! I am lucky enough to have found a similar set up again who has saved me more still .Join a local association and go to the meetings get to know people who can help you , don't get sucked in by an agent you can let it yourself if you google private landlords you will find lots of help and you will save a fortune in fees and your tenants will be better looked after

dacouch

Lovelyjoolz wrote: »

Landlord's insurance will give you about 6 months with the property empty, which should be plenty of time for you to find a tenant.

No offence intended, but you do sound clueless here, which concerns me. You need to start learning and learn FAST the ins and outs of becoming a landlord.

You are starting up a business and yet same to know absolutely nothing about what you should and should be doing. Being a landlord is not something to be taking lightly.

Please, do yourself and your future tenants a favour and start reading and researching as soon as possible.

Find out how to protect yourself AND your tenants.

Join a LL association. There are several. I'm a member of the NLA and find them very helpful, but there are others. There are plenty of resources on their website to help you figure out the laws you need to abide by.

G_M has several useful posts to help you. Definitely read this:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=41160642&postcount=12

And have a look at these:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3258860=


And don't forget to register as self employed with HMRC!

Are you sure landlords insurance will give you 6 months unoccupancy, that's very unusual, they get jumpy after 28 days

G_M

1) Buildings insurance and landlords insurance - it is not 'either/or'. They are NOT mutually exclusive!
2) you need buildings insurance that is designed for landlords - ie 'landlords buildings insurance'!
3) normal domestic buildings insurance is designed for owner-occupiers - it would be invalid if tenants lived there.

As others have said, you seem to have a limited understanding of property purchase, management and (most worrying) letting.

You should really be ensuring you understand all this before investing, otherwise how can you evaluate if your investment is wise?

Have you done a full budget for this rental business? Included all set-up costs? Annual costs? Maintenance costs? Tax? etc etc?

Read all this including all the links.

Lovelyjoolz

dacouch wrote: »

Are you sure landlords insurance will give you 6 months unoccupancy, that's very unusual, they get jumpy after 28 days

Absolutely. If fact, they have just extended it to 8 months - I have a rental property that is being renovated. It's been unoccupied since December. I insure through the NLA.

dacouch

Lovelyjoolz wrote: »

Absolutely. If fact, they have just extended it to 8 months - I have a rental property that is being renovated. It's been unoccupied since December. I insure through the NLA.

You may have it on your policy, however it's not standard, very few Insurers will accept a new customer whose rental property is likely to be unoccupied for more than 28 days.

Sounds like you took out a specialist policy for unoccupied or renovation.